Hyderabad: In a shocking incident, examiners copied 67 questions from private websites and blogs for a test to recruit principals of residential schools. The test was conducted by the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) on May 14.
The commission has deleted the 67 questions. Some students had alleged that a number of questions from the question paper were sourced from a private blog. An inquiry committee consisting of a retired vice-chancellor as chairman and two other senior professors met on Monday and verified the objections raised by the candidates and found them to be true.
The committee found that 12 questions out of 150 in Paper-I were similar to the questions found in the blog. Another 55 questions out of 150 in Paper-II were ruled to be similar. Of these, 37 out of 55 questions were found to be copied verbatim. Five questions in Paper-II were found be reformulated and the remaining questions and their options in both the Papers I and II were slightly modified by the examiners.
The committee was of the opinion that the probability of finding similarity between the question papers and the question banks cannot be ruled out for any examination. According to the commission, question papers are prepared in a highly confidential manner for which examiners from reputed institutions with exceptional service record are chosen. The question papers are received in sealed covers and are only viewed by the moderators appointed by the commission and sent for printing.
TSPSC chairman Ghanta Chakrapani told this newspaper, “It’s not acceptable that a large number of questions were sourced from a single private blog. We have decided to delete the questions which appeared from the private blog, which are 12 out of the 150 in Paper-I and 55 out of 150 in Paper-II.”
He said strict action would be initiated against the examiners and the commission requested the secretary to verify other question papers set by the same examiners. If any discrepancy was noticed, it was decided to refer the same to the committee.
He said there was a Rajasthan case judgement in the Supreme Court where a few questions were deleted instead of conducting a re-examination. “We are following the same guidelines and deleting the questions which were from the private blog.”
